Donald Sterling is gone, Blake Griffin has been out with an injury, but for some reason, NBA officials, opposing teams, fans, and even the league office still hate the Los Angeles Clippers.
The latest incident involved Clippers reserve forward Dahntay Jones, recently fined $10,000 for an alleged bump of Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green. You can watch the video here.
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Afterwards, according to the ESPN.com article, Green was angry over the incident, insulting Jones and generally blowing things way out of proportion.
“He got some camera time, which he needed because there wasn’t much celebration from their bench today, so you didn’t see him much. He got the camera time he was looking for.”
Green also said that he did not retaliate after being brutally assaulted by Jones because:
“I think he wanted a reaction from me, but he don’t play. Me getting suspended and him getting suspended, is different. When you don’t play, that’s probably his role on that team. I can’t afford to feed into it where he and I get into it after the game, get fined, get suspended, and hurt my team, where if he gets suspended, they may not even notice.”
The fine that Dahntay Jones received was a joke, as the bump looked unintentional both at the time of the incident and afterward on replay. Jones has never been known as a guy who makes trouble on the court, and the fact that he was in the NBA Developmental League earlier this year speaks to the fact that Jones is not looking for trouble.
Alas, this is the Clippers and the NBA has decided that they are a trouble making team. It was not that long ago that Chris Paul, following a poorly officiated game that involved five technical fouls on the Clippers. Afterwards, Paul complained about his treatment:
”The tech I got was ridiculous,” Paul said. ”That’s terrible. There’s no way that can be a technical. We try to get the ball out fast every time down the court. When we did that, she said, ‘Uh-uh.’ I said, ‘Why uh-uh?’ and she gave me a technical. That’s ridiculous. If that’s the case, this might not be for her.”
Paul was fined $25,000 by the NBA for his comments, as the league office routinely fines players for questioning the poor officiating in its games.
Matt Barnes, of course, is in an entirely different league when it comes to fines and technical fouls. Barnes has always been an emotional player, and he has always collected technical fouls.
He has also been fined multiple times this year, including kicking a water bottle into the stands and yelling inappropriate comments at fans. He is also among the league leaders in technical fouls, and has complained about being targeted by the league and officials.
Finally, Blake Griffin has seemingly drawn the ire of every player in the league not on his own team, putting up with scores of hard fouls every year. This just lends credence to the idea that the Clippers may have assembled the least likable team in league history.
This is a team full of guys who complain on the court and to the media, they attack people at nightclubs, allegedly, and plenty of other charges, including felony domestic violence and resisting arrest.
Their big move at the NBA trade deadline was to save the career of the coach’s son, and trading away disgruntled players. Nepotism, racism, domestic violence, assaults at nightclubs, sexism … this Clippers team has been accused of just about everything in the last two years, and it is taking its toll on both the team and its fans.
The Clippers are one of the least-watched teams in the NBA, driving away local fans despite on court success. The situation is reminiscent of the Jailblazers, the talented but troubled Portland Trail Blazer teams of the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Those teams featured Rasheed Wallace, Zach Randolph, Bonzi Wells and others who were talented but unable to control their emotions. While Portland came ever so close to making the NBA Finals, eventually the basketball crazy city was no disillusioned by the players behavior that the fans turned on the team.
The Trail Blazers have not been a championship contender since, although they have shown some promise in recent seasons.
If Los Angeles wants to avoid the fate of those Portland teams, then it is necessary for the organization to control its players. Doc Rivers, both the coach and head of basketball operations, needs to instill more discipline into the team.
This is a talented team, but they have shown a disturbing penchant for melting down in key games, and ruining a shot at advancing deep into the playoffs. What should scare Rivers and new owner Steve Ballmer, however, is the apathy that fans are currently showing towards such a talented team.
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